Profiles of Courage

Amanda J. Mantone/amantone@cnc.com

Thursday

May 24, 2007 at 12:01 AMMay 24, 2007 at 3:52 PM

The parade stepped off at 9:30 a.m. on Main Street in Malden Square, and continued up Forest Street to the Forestdale Cemetery, where parade participants, veterans and their families commemorated the sacrifices of Malden’s deceased war veterans with a brief ceremony along the graveyard wall.

From there, the parade processed up Pierce Street and onto Salem Street, before ending downtown at Pleasant Street outside City Hall in Government Center. Several veterans groups, police and fire officers, the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, a group from the high school and Tony Barrie’s Band of Saugus participated.

Organizers estimated more than 500 people took part in this year's parade.

With help from Malden boy and girl scouts, John Webster — head of Malden Veterans Services — worked all week to make sure each veteran buried in the city had an American flag placed at their headstone before the weekend’s remembrances kicked off.

“Every year we miss some graves, but we’re never intending to and we apologize ahead of time,” he said last week.

Flags were also available at the Forestdale Cemetery office for families to distribute privately.

“We as veterans march for those who never came home,” he said. “As long as there’s one of us, there will be a parade.”